My various responses

Dear Bill (Smythe from IL),

I have been criticized many times in my life. I have no problem with it. That is a part of life. People are entitled to disagree and speak out. That is not what I talk about.

It is totally inexcusable when deliberate and vicious lies are launched to permanently harm people on a personal and professional level. I will not accept this.

We, as an organization, need to protect ALL members equally. I stand for professionalism and I will never change whether I will be elected to the Executive Board or not.

As I stated earlier, I have taken my platform directly to the USCF members. I have done that for a while already. I have met tens and thousands of people each year.

I am also the most assessable World Champion in the world through my websites, blogs and face to face meetings. How many World Champions would allow the public to communicate directly with them on a daily basis? It means that I welcome interaction, suggestions, discussions or even criticism from chess players.

I am me. I believe in strong ethics, integrity and professionalism, I refuse to behave like some of these chess politicians. I am not going to get into this dirty and destructive game. If that will cost me some votes then so be it.

Thank you for sharing your opinion.

Best wishes, Susan Polgar

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Dear Duncan (Oxley from CA),

Thank you and I understand your points and they are fair. However, please let me offer you this. Paul has been a friend of mine since 1985-86. He has helped me countless times over the years without anyone ever knowing about it. He does not like the limelight. He is quiet and reserved. He asked me not to talk about him. Most people do not know this.

In 2001 when I asked him to be my business manager, he first declined. Only after when I convinced him of my vision to promote chess in the US that he changed his mind because he loves chess and he wanted to see it grow the right way. All of a sudden, he was being asked to change hats and become a public figure, in essence, the bad guy, the enforcer.

What have been some of his roles? He was asked to defend and protect the 2004 US Women's Olympiad Team. Do you know how many times the members of this team were called various names? He defended and protected all of us to give us a chance and piece of mind to concentrate on our jobs in Spain. He did his job and we did our jobs.

He was asked to defend us again when signed legal contracts were broken. He was asked to protect us when chess politicians were trying to lie about the facts to smear our names and when private info was leaked for political reasons. He was asked to be put in the most unfortunate situations. He did it without pay and without complains.

When he is being compensated, he usually donated that money to the US Chess Trust, the SPF or other good groups. He was the only one in US Chess history to succeed because we came back with 4 Women's Olympiad medals (2 gold and 2 silver medals). He helped the entire team overcome all obstacles and relentless attacks.

I asked him to promote the SPF and various activities on a less than shoe string budget and he achieved better results than even some organizations with millions of dollars to spend. He succeeded in everything that was asked of him. Another word, he is being blame for doing his job better than anyone else.

He was asked by me not to respond when people falsely accused him of cheating when I was the one who asked him to test out lines for me on the Internet. I needed to rework my repertoire without anyone knowing about it. He was and still is my trainer and my results since coming out of retirement are better than ever.

He was asked by me not to respond when people falsely accused him of being BB on the Internet. Why? Because I was in a lengthy legal battle (and still am) with this individual and I did not want anything to jeopardize it.

I have dealt with tens and thousands of people in my 30+ year career and he is undoubtedly the most loyal and most professional person I have ever met.

I approach this election and the USCF the same way I approached each of my world championship event or Olympiad. There has to be a goal and vision. Then you bring in the best team (such as trainers, practice partners, physical trainers, etc.) to help you accomplish that goal. I did not approach this election in 1 day. I took a long time to pinpoint the weaknesses and came up with a comprehensive plan and team which I strongly believe can successfully address these weaknesses. This is how I approach everything in life.

I can tell you without hesitation that Paul will be the most important piece of the puzzle. He can bring something that no one else could and that the USCF needs the most. There is no one who could even come close. That is the bottom line. The same goes with others pieces of the puzzle.

There is zero ounce of political motive in any of my decision. The best interest of US Chess and the USCF always comes first. I put in a lot of energy and thoughts to do this for one reason only and that is to fix the USCF. We cannot continue to survive year after year with massive internal destruction.

In the next few months, I will unveil one piece of the puzzle at the time. This will be the most unique and professional election. This is why I chose not to respond to the "typical" trashing by the "typical" chess politicians. We have to rise above it and I will step up to do it.

Thank you again for your post and I ask that you please give my vision and goals a fair evaluation.

Best wishes, Susan Polgar

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Thank you Mike (Swatek from OK). This is one part of the USCF culture I would like to change. It does no good to go back and forth. That will only contribute further to the destruction of this federation. Therefore, I will give them the last words. I believe Mr. Duncan stated something very important earlier, most of the USCF members are smarter than that. They can see the truth.

There have been too much hatred and animosity already. We have to work hard to unite everyone. I realize that people can never agree to everything. Even my sisters and I disagree on issues. But I am sure people can see our results by working together and helping each other. After all, we have a very big common bond: Our love for chess! The same goes with the members of the USCF.

This election is very important to me, not as an individual, but as a voice for countless frustrated members for years. I have been traveling around this country for the past 5 years promoting chess and speaking to tens and thousands of USCF and non USCF members. I do not forget the comments that were made to me. I want to keep those members and I want the non-members to proudly join us.

Now that my children are a little older (hopefully they do not grow so fast), I am ready, willing and able to do everything in my power to energize US Chess and the USCF as well as restoring the integrity, credibility and respectability for this federation. We must move on in the positive direction.

But I cannot do it alone. That is why I have asked the most qualified people to join me in this critical mission. I also want to energize the local and state networks to help promote our game the grassroots way.

Thank you for the kind words and thank you for your support!

Best wishes, Susan Polgar

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Michael (Aigner from CA),

Thank you for your honest thoughts. The answer is very simple. I cannot do what Paul does and he cannot do what I do. That is why we work well together for many years and that is why this federation needs his expertise. I do not know of a single person that can do what he does. He is good in what he does and I am good in what I do. We are as different as night and day.

The same goes with Randy Bauer or Mikhail Korenman. People keep throwing the word slate as we are planning to take over the world Randy, Mikhail and I have not spoken in a long time. For some reasons, people seem to think that we are all the same people and have the same opinion. We may on some issues and we may also disagree on other issues. I did not ask Randy, Mikhail or Paul to do this to agree with me. I asked them to bring their incredible and unique expertise to the USCF.

If you do not feel that I have the vision or ability to change the USCF for the better then please vote for other qualified candidates. I have no problem with that. Members should vote for the candidates who can help this federation the most.

This federation sure needs it. Happy New Year and Good Luck with your FM title quest! This will be my last post here for a while. Time to get back to other chess activities!

Best wishes, Susan Polgar